Chris Ellis
Known for
Whatever else has changed around him, Chris Ellis has remained a working actor whose name has been turning up in credits for decades. Most of the work sits in action. The distance between the first credit and the most recent is about 44 years. For much of the audience, Chris Ellis is Fr. Reilly from 'The Dark Knight Rises', whatever else the credits say. 'Catch Me If You Can' rounds out the better-known part of the filmography. The first screen credit dates from 1982.
Chris Ellis
53 Movies
44 Series
Whatever else has changed around him, Chris Ellis has remained a working actor whose name has been turning up in credits for decades. Most of the work sits in action. The distance between the first credit and the most recent is about 44 years. For much of the audience, Chris Ellis is Fr. Reilly from 'The Dark Knight Rises', whatever else the credits say. 'Catch Me If You Can' rounds out the better-known part of the filmography. The first screen credit dates from 1982.
Movies
Plays Fr. Reilly
The Dark Knight Rises
2012
Plays Deke Slayton
Apollo 13
1995
Plays Special Agent Witkins
Catch Me If You Can
2002
Plays BOP Official Grant
Con Air
1997
Plays Flight Director Clark
Armageddon
1998
Plays Aces & Spades Barman
The Island
2005
Plays Capt. Jack Scalvino
Live Free or Die Hard
2007
Plays Moving Man
Addams Family Values
1993
Plays General Anderson
Godzilla
1998
Plays Commander Karl Vasich
Planet of the Apes
2001
Plays Additional Magician
Crimson Tide
1995
Plays NSA Director
G-Force
2009
Plays Hendricks
The Guest
2014
Plays Admiral Brigham
Transformers
2007
Plays Harlem Hoogerhyde
Days of Thunder
1990
Plays Detective Butler
Bean
1997
Plays J.T.
My Cousin Vinny
1992
Plays Vice President - Grand Cayman Bank
Fun with Dick and Jane
2005
Plays Phil Horace
That Thing You Do!
1996
Plays Principal Turner
October Sky
1999
Plays Officer
Wag the Dog
1997
Plays Policeman
A Little Princess
1995
Plays Coggs
The Devil's Rejects
2005
Plays Coach Jenks (as Chris Ellis Jr.)
McFarland, USA
2015
Plays Sheriff Pruitt
Jessabelle
2014
Plays Hollis
The Watcher
2000
Plays Detective Warren
Domestic Disturbance
2001
Plays Keller
The Show
2017
Plays Captain Nimziki
Wonderland
2003
Plays Henry Lever
Home Fries
1998
Plays Hank
The Oath
2018
Plays Burt
Undercover Blues
1993
Plays Samuel Littleton
In Enemy Hands
2004
Plays Dad
Faults
2014
Plays Patriot Model Aeronautics Clerk
Love Liza
2002
Plays Pops
Teenage Dirtbag
2009
Plays Glen the Carousel Manager
Crazy
2008
Plays Mr. Adler
Silo
2021
Plays Jackson
The Darkroom
2006
Plays Dewey
Daddy and Them
2001
Plays L Donn Murray
Gospel Hill
2008
Plays Willinger McDodey
Sissy Frenchfry
2006
Plays Senator Thaddeus Williams
Amelia 2.0
2017
Plays Jim Stovall
Believe in Me
2006
Plays Security Guard #1
The Tie That Binds
1995
Plays Det. Hanson
Beyond the City Limits
2001
Plays Doug Kane
The Ghost Trap
2024
Plays Harvey
What Still Remains
2018
Plays Phillip Brodeur
Death and Texas
2004
Plays Buddy #1
Sparkler
1997
TV Shows
Plays Congressman Bruce Gelber
The Unit
2006
Plays Jim Penseyres
Millennium
1996
Plays Captain Ken Nilsen
Ghost Whisperer
2005
Plays Virgil Watkins
Burn Notice
2007
Plays Hayes
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles
2008
Plays Construction Worker #2
Six Feet Under
2001
Plays Reverend Ted Capistrano
Veronica Mars
2004
Plays Agent Chapman
Alias
2001
Plays Daniel Crockett
The Pretender
1996
Plays Jim Horn (2008)
Cold Case
2003
Plays Vincent Williams
CSI: NY
2004
Plays Sheriff Rhodes
Criminal Minds
2005
Plays Sheriff Lance Hindt
The X-Files
1993
Plays Derek Poole
9-1-1: Lone Star
2020
Plays T. Greer
Roswell
1999
Plays Mr. Reese
Family Law
1999
Plays Christos Markos
K.C. Undercover
2015
Plays Larry Ketterly
Birds of Prey
2002
Plays Leonard Wilson
Diagnosis: Murder
1993
Plays Congressman Fields
The West Wing
1999
Plays Jubal Jacobs
Political Animals
2012
Plays Del Hill
Mad Men
2007
Plays Bob Parker
From the Earth to the Moon
1998
Plays Sherrif Mullery
The Mentalist
2008
Plays Walter Exley
Law & Order: LA
2010
Plays Adm. Stenner
Space: Above and Beyond
1995
Plays Clinton Malton
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
2000
Plays Warden Nick Larsen
The Finder
2012
Plays Douglas Cooper
Justified
2010
Plays Brian Pascal
Promised Land
1996
Latest Trailers
Watch Trailer
The Ghost Trap
Full Filmography
The Ghost Trap
Doug Kane
2024
Film
Silo
Mr. Adler
2021
Film
9-1-1: Lone Star
Derek Poole · 1 episode
2020
TV
Homecoming
Richard Lehmann · 1 episode
2018–
TV
Kenny
Al
2018
Film
The Oath
Hank
2018
Film
What Still Remains
Harvey
2018
Film
Young Sheldon
Marty Steinbecker · 1 episode
2017–
TV
The Show
Keller
2017
Film
Photos
Frequently Asked Questions
How old is Chris Ellis and where are they from?
Chris Ellis is 70 years old, born on April 14, 1956 in Dallas, Texas, USA.
What are the most famous roles of Chris Ellis?
Chris Ellis is best known for roles in The Dark Knight Rises, Catch Me If You Can, Transformers.
How many movies has Chris Ellis been in?
Over a 44-year career (since 1982), Chris Ellis has appeared in 53 movies and 44 TV shows.
What was Chris Ellis's first movie?
The career of Chris Ellis began with Rascals and Robbers: The Secret Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn (1982).
What is Chris Ellis's most recent movie or series?
Chris Ellis's most recent release is The Ghost Trap, which premiered on April 19, 2024.
What TV shows has Chris Ellis appeared in?
On television, Chris Ellis has appeared in The Office, The Mentalist, Criminal Minds, The X-Files.
Chris Ellis
1956-04-14 · Dallas, Texas, USA
Chris Ellis (born April 14, 1956) is an American film and television actor. Ellis always wanted to be an actor because of television. He grew up in the 50's in the deep south in a "world of privation and violence", but saw on television people who seemed to have lives of ease and privilege.
It took him seven years to finish college however, because "I have always been shiftless". During those years Chris became involved in community theatre in Memphis, where "I did and do still think the quality of the work has always been quite good". By the time he moved to New York, he had worked with many excellent actors in about two dozen plays, classical and contemporary. "I cannot imagine what might have supplanted that background for a newcomer in New York."
His first part in either television or film came in 1979, where he played a truck driver in the TV movie The Suicide's Wife, which starred Angie Dickinson. The role resulted in very little TV or film work. After working in regional theatre for a year or so, Chris fell off the radar screen and did not work for about ten years. During that time he lived in "bone-grinding poverty" in Manhattan's Hell's Kitchen. In one nine-month period of 1987, Chris accepted 102 dinner invitations. "I don't know why they kept arriving, nor why I counted them, though I do know why I accepted them."
In 1990, a break came when he got a part in Days of Thunder, which starred Tom Cruise, Nicole Kidman, Cary Elwes, Robert Duvall, and Randy Quaid. John C. Reilly and Fred Dalton Thompson also appear. This seemed to jump-start Ellis' career as parts in films like My Cousin Vinny with Joe Pesci and Marisa Tomei, a small part in Addams Family Values, and a larger one in Apollo 13 as former NASA Mercury Seven astronaut Deke Slayton, alongside Tom Hanks, followed. He also began picking up credits on well-known television shows like Melrose Place, NYPD Blue, and The X-Files.
Since working with Hanks on Apollo 13, the two have worked together on That Thing You Do, the TV miniseries From the Earth to the Moon, and Catch Me If You Can. Ellis returned to a fictional NASA Mission Control when he played a Flight Director in 1998's Armageddon.
Additional films in which Ellis has appeared include Home Fries, October Sky, Live Free or Die Hard, and Transformers. His television credits also include The West Wing, Ghost Whisperer, Chicago Hope, The Pretender, Alias, JAG, CSI: NY, Burn Notice, and Cold Case. He appeared in three season one episodes of Millennium as group member Jim Panseayres. He has established a reputation as being particularly talented at portraying Southern lawmakers or serious military or police-type characters.
He also appeared in Criminal Minds as Sheriff Jimmy Rhodes who calls for the BAU's help in investigating a string of murders in New Mexico. In addition to that, he also had two guest appearances in NCIS as Gunnery Sergeant John Deluca. Ellis's appearance in the Season 1 episode, "The Curse" was uncredited while his second and final appearance in Season 2's "The Bone Yard" was credited.Chris Ellis (actor), licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.